Atomic Love

Fields's mostly predictable historical romance (after The Age of Desire) gets a boost from its crackerjack heroine, Rosalind "Roz" Porter, a talented young scientist and veteran of the Manhattan Project. Roz lost her job after the implosion of an affair with coworker Thomas Weaver and a report accusing her of being "emotionally unstable" in 1946, leaving her brokenhearted and underemployed as a Chicago salesclerk. When Weaver returns to the Windy City in 1950 to rekindle their relationship, she gives him the cold shoulder until FBI agent Charlie Szydlo asks her to reunite with Weaver to find out what he knows about information passed to the Soviets. Though Roz sleeps with Weaver both for pleasure and to get him to talk, she falls in love with Charlie, who reciprocates her feelings. Meanwhile, Soviet agents bug Roz's apartment and start following her, and Weaver disappears, leaving behind an ominously bloodied apartment. A secondary story about Roz's older sister underscores women's frustrations with traditionally female roles in American society, though it does little to advance the plot. Romance fans will delight in the smoldering affection between Roz and Charlie, but the Cold War espionage thread involving Weaver fizzles. Still, as escapist fare, Fields's steamy adventure gets the job done. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary Management (Aug.)